On the Run from Monsters and Life
by Magoo2u
Summary: Luke, Thalia, and little Annabeth  and later Grover . They're rejected, lost, and a family. Please review!
1. Introduction

Introduction: Athena (Thalia's POV)

"Thalia. Thalia, wake up, it's your shift now!" Luke's voice rang in my ears. I groaned and rolled over, swatting at the sound of the voice. "Five more minutes?" I mumbled sleepily.

"Thalia, I've already let you sleep a full thirty minutes into your shift! I would let you sleep longer, but I'm going to fall asleep any second now!" Luke said calmly, pulling back my blanket and giving me no choice but to get up.

"Alright, alright, I'm up. Now go get some sleep." I said, pulling on my jacket, taking the flashlight from Luke and going to sit outside.

Rain was pouring full force outside the cave, so the forest smelled fresh and alive and I couldn't help but feel just a little bit more awake when the crisp fresh air entered my lungs. 'It may not be the warmest', I thought, 'But at least it's not snowing like last week.'

A few hours later, I was trying to decide where Luke and I should go next when I heard footsteps coming from inside the forest. My first thought was 'Monsters!', but then a cool female voice spoke from behind a tree.

"Thalia Grace I am definitely not a monster." I stared blankly in the direction of the voice. If it wasn't a monster, then what was it?

Suddenly, a woman stepped out into the light my flashlight was giving off. She had long black hair tied into a braid, and she wore royal blue robes and a golden headband.

"Who, who are you?" I asked, staring at the woman.

"I am Athena, daughter of Zeus and Metis, goddess of wisdom, skill and war, and I need your help." My jaw dropped, but I gave a quick bow before standing up and continuing to gape. Not only was this woman a god, she needed MY HELP!

"I know you have many questions," Athena said, hurrying to talk. She kept glancing around, like she was doing something wrong by talking to me and was afraid she would be caught. "But right now is not the time. Zeus has forbidden all the gods to have contact with the demigods, but I have no other choice. Now listen very carefully. One of my daughters, Annabeth, has already been discovered by the monsters, but in no way, shape or form is she capable of handling them (you will find out why soon), so I want you to find her, and then take her to camp half-blood. Do not ask what that is, a guide come to you in a few months. But about my daughter. You will have to go to Richmond, and there you will find my daughter. In return for doing all this, I will give you this shield. It's name is Aegis, and it is modeled after your fathers." Athena snapped her fingers and a wristwatch appeared on my wrist. "Please, find Annabeth. But whatever you do, do not tell Luke about our meeting. He does not like the gods, and he will stop you if he knows you have received instructions from me. I must go now, but please remember what I have told you."

I nodded my head, and in a blinding flash of light, Athena was gone. The next morning, Luke and I set out for Richmond.


	2. Chapter 1

Chapter 1: Hammers (Thalia's POV)

"Are you sure?" "Something down here. I sense it." A rumble echoed down the alley way. Someone or something was here with us.

Luke was holding his bronze knife, and I had my shield of terror, Aegis, and my spear. We were so used to being attacked, we were ready for everything and anything. I remembered what Athena had told me, but Luke didn't know and I wasn't taking any chances.

We carefully made our may down the alley, and stopped in front of a shivering sheet of tin. We approached slowly, and once we were close enough, I glanced up at Luke. He counted silently. _1, 2, 3!___ Her mouthed, and ripped away the tin.

But instead of a big ugly monster, a little girl jumped out and tried to beat Luke to a pulp using only a small hammer. She was wearing flannel pjs, and her tangled blond hair was everywhere. But, she would of succeeded in her task of braining Luke, if he wasn't so quick in grabbing her. Her 'weapon' skidded across the floor, but she still fought and kicked.

"No more monster! Go away!"

"It's ok!" Luke said, struggling to hold her. He had her at an arm's length away, so he wouldn't get a bloody nose.

"Thalia, put down your shield. You're scaring her." Suddenly, I realised he was right. My shield was pretty intimidating, and this kid probably thought that a real monster was looking her right in the face. I tapped Aegis, and it shrank down into a nice, innocent, silver wrist watch.

"Hey, it's alright." I said, hoping to calm her down a little. "We're not going to hurt you. I'm Thalia. This is Luke."

"Monsters!"

"No." Promised Luke. He looked like he had the same idea I did. "But we know all about monsters. We fight them too."

Slowly (and I mean s-l-o-w-l-y), the kid stopped kicking. She looked us over, as if she had x-ray vision and was looking at us to see if we had evil monster beings inside of us. It was only now that I managed to get a good look at her. She had several large cuts and bruises, and she looked cold, tired and hungry. She reminded me quite a bit of myself from my first days alone and on the run, but she was much younger than me. She only seemed to be about six or seven years old, far too old to be on the run, let alone discovered by monsters.

"You're like me?" she asked, a hint of suspicion still in her voice.

"Yeah." Luke said. "We're... well, it's hard to explain, but we're monster fighters. Where's your family?" At this, the girls face fell and she stared at the ground.

"My family hates me. They don't want me, so I ran away." She said. Luke and I locked eyes. We had pretty much gone through the same thing with our parents, and now we were both on the run. But at least we knew how to survive, unlike this kid, who could only have been out here for a month and still looked pretty beat up. I then remembered Athena talking to me, and suddenly I realised that maybe not all gods had it in for their children.

"What's your name, kiddo?" I asked her.

"Annabeth."

"Nice name. I tell you what Annabeth, you're pretty fierce. We could use a fighter like you." Luke said. He was smiling now, something I hadn't seen him do in a long time, and as he spoke Annabeth's eyes suddenly got a whole lot bigger. She was probably always being yelled at by her parents, something I knew all about considering my mom spent half her time drunk.

"You could?" Annabeth asked, grinning at Luke sheepishly.

"Oh yeah!" He replied, grinning right back at her. Luke then turned over his knife, so that the handle was pointing right at the kid's face. "How'd you like a real monster slaying weapon? This is Celestial bronze. Works a lot better than a hammer." Annabeth immediately reached out and grabbed the handle, grinning more broadly than ever.

"Knifes are only for the bravest and quickest fighters." Luke explained to the little kid standing in front of him. "They don't have the reach or power of a sword, but they're easy to conceal and they can find weak spots in your enemy's armour. It takes a clever warrior to use a knife. I have a feeling you're pretty clever." Again Annabeth's face lit up, and she stared at Luke with adoration. In that moment I knew, he was going to be her hero.

"I am!" She said, still grinning like crazy.

"We'd better get going Annabeth. We have a safe house on the James River. We'll get you some clothes and food."

The kid hesitated, then said "You're...you're not going to take me back to my family? Promise?"Luke put his hand on her shoulder. "You're part of our family now. And I promise I won't let anything hurt you. I'm not going to fail you like our families did. Deal?" he answered her.

"Deal!"

"Now, come on." I said. "We can't stay put for long!"


End file.
